In 2016, then-Defense Secretary Ash Carter ended the ban on transgender people being able to serve openly in the military. Carter put in place a process to occur in stages, and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis was facing a July 1 deadline on whether to allow new recruits who were transgender.  At the urging of the military service leaders, Mattis announced that he was delaying that decision for six months to study the issue further.  But Mattis called Hartzler on Thursday to urge her to withdraw…
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